That ugly brown felt was the hardest bit to remove. Oh, it came up okay but it was nailed down about every 4" and the nails stayed put. Pulling them out was the toughest part.

Here's a picture of the layers I was dealing with:

The hideous green was laid on top of the beige. The green was also held down with tack strips. The beige was just lying there - no nails, tack strips, nothing. The felt was nailed down. It was also put down in odd sized strips. You can see a seam in it in the first photo. Every seam had many, many nails. My hands ached from pulling the nails.

Here is a photo of all the carpeting gone!!!

Okay, okay, the carpeting still exists...under the bookcases. Until I get or make a cabinet to replace them, that bit of carpet stays. Thankfully, it's not big and will come out quickly.

I did put down a lovely area rug but I'll wait to post a photo of that. I've been cleaning and organizing the entire room in small stages. I'm going to share photos of my entire room once I've finished. It might be awhile, because until I get rid of the bookcases, I won't consider it finished.

UPDATE: Lenore asked, "Why was the carpet there in the first place?" I honestly don't know. It was there when we bought the house back in 1997. It might have been there just as a way to keep the room warmer. It's the only room upstairs and the house wasn't insulated...at all!

Oh, I did attempt to make progress on my Merry Christmas set. The first frame that I picked up had broken glass! (sigh) I will need to keep one of them undone so that I can get a new piece of glass cut. I may work on the other letters in the meantime.